Ayrshire Scotland Business News is provided by the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire. We publicise our members, and celebrate and report the wealth and rich diversity of entrepreneurial and business excellence that abounds here in Ayrshire, south-west Scotland. For further information e-mail Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

The Elite Ayrshire Business Circle

Thursday, 27 January 2011

A dram tae Rabbie Burns keeps Scotland’s whisky industry strong

On Burns Night this week, many people around the world will have toasted the Bard with a dram of the ‘water of life’. Whisky is one of Scotland’s best known and best loved exports.

Despite whisky sales in the UK showing a decline over the last five years, Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) is optimistic about the opportunities the industry can exploit with their support, according to new figures released this week.

Over the last three years, SMAS has been working closely with the whisky industry and its supply chain to help them identify new ways to increase productivity, improve efficiency and add real value to their bottom line.

During this time, it has delivered 39 improvement projects, including assistance with process improvement, leadership and organisational development, which have helped generate £5 million of productivity gains for these companies.

Approximately 320 companies are involved in the industry’s supply chain, from malting companies to distilleries, and packaging companies to warehousing and logistics. To date SMAS has focussed its support on the 115 mixing, bottling, production and packaging companies where it can make the greatest impact.

Barry Mole, SMAS’ lead practitioner in the north of Scotland, explains, “Since working closely with the major suppliers in the whisky supply chain, it’s clear that they already run a fairly slick operation – but there’s always room for improvement – and despite already working with a fair number of companies in this sector we want to work with even more, so now would be a good time to get in touch to see how we can help.

“Where we can add real benefit is to challenge their management and working practices and highlight the benefits which innovation and business efficiency can make to their bottom line. Some of the companies are already experiencing the benefits of putting in place continuous improvement programmes. This approach is a real step forward for the industry and one which will reap rewards both now and in the future.”

East Kilbride-based The Boxshop Ltd supplies packaging to a broad range of industries throughout the UK, including many whisky manufacturers. It has been working with SMAS since the service was first launched in 2005, on projects such as improving machinery maintenance processes, increasing lean awareness across all personnel, and implementing more cost-effective procurement procedures, which resulted in its first project increasing productivity by 60%.

Boxshop Director, Douglas Lamb, comments, “With our initial SMAS projects, I must confess to being fairly sceptical. However, our practitioner did a good job of convincing me that we should give them a try and nowadays, when a new project is suggested, I don’t need to be convinced any more. I know it works, I know it will bring benefits and I know it will make a difference to our bottom line.”

The whisky industry has remained strong throughout the economic downturn which is largely due to just over 90% of the whisky produced in Scotland being exported abroad. Figures show that in the first six months of the financial year nine out of its top ten export markets grew in value including South Africa, the USA and France.

More recently, the Scottish Manufactured Exports Estimates for the third quarter of 2010 reported an overall decline in Scottish manufactured export sales, however, the food and drink and tobacco industry bucked this trend and saw a 0.9% increase during the same period.

Supporting the industry to realise its full potential involves both the private and public sectors. The SMAS team has partnered up with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Development International and the Scotch Whisky Association to help achieve this.

Key facts

• Scotch Whisky contributes £3.9 billion a year in Gross Valued Added (GVA) to the Scottish economy once industry spending across the supply chain is taken into account (and £2.7 billion in GVA to the economy directly)• Over £1.1 billion is spent every year with Scottish suppliers, up 61% since 2000• Four fifths of annual operating expenditure is in Scotland, including £200 million on cereals and £300 million on dry goods (bottles and packaging)• Annual industry turnover in Scotland is £6.4 billion• Capital spending of £355 million a year, of which £108 million is invested on capital items made in Scotland• £464 million in income (salaries & wages) generated within the industry and over £1.6 billion across the supply chain

Employment

• 10,300 people directly employed by the industry in Scotland, up from 9,600 in 2000• 20% of employment is in rural communities, largely across the Highlands & Islands• 52% of jobs are in Strathclyde, with 17% in Central Scotland & Fife, and 11% in Lothian• In total, 35,000 Scottish jobs rely on the continued success of Scotch Whisky• Employee productivity at £262,000 per head is six times the Scottish average

There are currently 822 Ayrshire business stories permanently archived on this site. To locate those of most interest to you, please use the site search facility in the top right hand corner of this page.

THE EDITORThe Editor of Ayrshire Scotland Business News is Murdoch MacDonald, a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge University, where his journalistic contemporaries included John Simpson, now World Affairs Editor with the BBC, and Alan Rusbridger, Editor of the Guardian. Murdoch MacDonald has been in the public relations industry and a freelance journalist and broadcaster for more than 35 years.He has handled the PR accounts of many top Scottish companies, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, John Menzies, Kwik-Fit and Barratt Homes.

He has hosted his own family finance programmes - "£s, Pence and Sense" on Radio Forth and "Moneywise" on Scottish Television.He now runs Ayrshire’s top PR consultancy Fame Publicity Services.

Wherever you are in the world, no other public relations consultancy, PR firm or publicity company can offer you a better or more cost-effective worldwide news distribution service, combined with search engine optimisation techniques that will drive customers and qualified sales leads to your company's website.

Murdoch MacDonald is also managing director of the Elite Ayrshire Business Circle, an association of some of the top companies in Ayrshire.Telephone: 01292 281498E-mail: Murdoch@eliteayrshire.com

Murdoch and his wife Lilian (pictured above) have written a book called "Phoenix in a Bottle", describing how they overcame alcoholism and are now, contrary to conventional wisdom, able to drink alcohol responsibly again. "Phoenix in a Bottle" is published by Melrose Books price £16.99 and is now available worldwide.Reviewing the book, eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented:

“Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

“Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise.”

And now "Phoenix in a Bottle" has been selected as a set text by a top American university.

“Phoenix in a Bottle” by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald will now be required reading for all doctoral students in a psychology programme at Alliant International University in San Diego, California.

Alliant International University, headquartered in San Diego and San Francisco, California, was formed in 2001 by the merger of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and the United States International University. Alliant has 6 campuses throughout California and also runs programmes in Mexico City, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant is one of the premier psychology schools in the US, and it counts roughly half the licensed clinical psychologists in California as its alumni.

Dr. Gary W. Lawson is Professor of Psychology at CSPP. He says: “I adopted Phoenix in a Bottle because the dilemma this couple struggled with and the questions they ask themselves are like so many others I have encountered in 35 years of clinical experience treating addictions.“However, nowhere in addiction literature have I seen these issues examined and explained as well as Lilian and Murdoch do in Phoenix in a Bottle.“I also recommend Phoenix in a Bottle to many of my patients as well.”

You can buy "Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald online now direct from Amazon UK (click on book cover image below).